Search

Today’s manicure is Essie Super Bossa Nova, a member of one of Essie’s Summer 2011 collections. I didn’t expect to snap it up, as it’s more of a “typical” color. I tend to gravitate to weirder colors and finishes than this one, but I still liked it. I think it’ll make an especially great pedicure color.

Pros: Heavily pigmented polish. You can nearly get away with one coat, but I did two coats to make it perfect. Gorgeous color. Maybe not the most unique, but its shimmer (pink/light purple) made it stand out a little more. It also had a exceptionally speedy dry time. I’ve found that Essie’s dry particularly slow (ESPECIALLY their pastels), so this was a pleasant surprise.

Cons: So-so application. I don’t know if I had a strange bottle or what, but its application was kind of gritty. This led to an imperfect finish, but that was nothing that a little Seche Vite couldn’t fix.

Gotta say, it’s hard to take a picture of your nails without your fingers looking extremely awkward. Anyway, like I said, Seche took away a lot of my fears about Super Bossa Nova – but I felt it still needed SOMETHING…

I layered China Glaze‘s Tarnished Gold crackle over it – and I think it really spiced things up! A little less Bossa Nova, a whole lot more Bollywood! It was my first time using China Glaze crackle (I’ve only used OPI’s before) and I found that this crackle works well with a thicker coat. I very much enjoyed using this crackle, and I’ll definitely use it again. I put another coat of Seche Vite on top of the gold to make it pop.

What do you think? Do you like the crackle trend? Do you prefer the Essie alone or with the China Glaze on top?